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My son also had nightmares, to help him with those we talked about changing a bad dream into a good dream. We asked him what would be a good dream - he said a dream about flying pigs. So every night at bed time we would tell him to have only dreams with flying pigs. If during the night he was having a bad dream we would go to him and tell him to start dreaming about flying pigs over and over, ask him if he could see the pigs yet, etc. It helped him gain control of his dreams. Eventually they stopped.
I think nightmares are harder on the child because they remember it. Night terrors are harder on the parent because you feel powerless to help them, they are stuck somewhere awful to them and can't seem to hear you or get out. When my ds was still having the terrors I would lay next to him, not touching him and just say over and over quietly "mommy's here, your safe"
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ANNABELLE7663
3/28/06 8:14 A
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Looserpants,
I too pray and pray and pray when the night terrors come. I remember Psalm 91, www.biblegateway.com/passage/?bok_id=23&chapter=91&version=31
The part that states, " You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day"
Anne
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LOOSERPANTS
3/27/06 6:24 P
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| My youngest had these when he was a baby. I am christian and I sat in his room and prayed for him the terrors stopped after a few times.
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| My daughter, 3.5 years, has been having night terrors for the last week or so. She screams for me and then talks in jibberish. We tried leaving her alone, but that night she threw up in her bed from crying so hard. So I gently wake her up, calm her down, and she falls right back to sleep. I am going to try to give her more water. I have been attributing it to being overtired from not napping, and trying to adjust to her baby sister becoming more aware and thereby taking more attention away from her.
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XOXO_UN1_OXOX
3/27/06 1:55 P
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| I think I would prefer the night terrors. Atleast they don't remember in the morning. That's gotta be tough having one so young.
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Hi
Night terrors are horrid. My dd is 16 mos and started having them about 3 weeks ago. She cries,tosses turns and yells" no no" in her sleep.I learned to just leave her and not touch her or she just cries harder. I just keep on eye on her.
She wakes up later or in the morning and is fine and happy. One night she was crying and restless about every hour on the hour. Luckily each time only lasts about 10 min..but it can get tiring. Poor little babes, you have to wonder what goes on their heads!!
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SUZANNEJOZEF
3/26/06 10:40 A
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I don't know which is worse the night terrors or nightmares. My son never had night terrors but horrible nightmares. It got so bad the he was afraid to go to sleep at night because he thought he would have a nightmare, and when he did he wouldn't let himself go back to sleep because they would pick up right where they left off.
For him they all had to do with dinosaurs which he loved was facinated by them. We ended up having to put everything to do with dinosaurs in a box and tape it up, put it in my closet so they couldn't get out and get him. This went on for about 2 years, a lot of it was stress related to school issues, finding out he was ADHD and getting him on the right meds, the poor kid would have them about 3-4 times a week. I ended up having to put him on sleeping medicine to help him get sleep at night, he is still on this, when I try to wean him off it, he starts having the nightmares again.
Good luck, hopefully you can find out what causes them or what works to bring her out of it quickly.
Suzanne
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JODILYNNE7
3/21/06 10:09 P
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| the good thing is they do not remember them!!
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ANNABELLE7663
3/21/06 8:13 A
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| Thanks everyone for your input. We did have another episode Sunday night at 11pm. We heard her crying and new that it was a night terror. She had her head buried in the pillow and her fists and legs where kicking the bed violently. We didn't touch her. We just let her cry for 6-8 minutes then my husband went in and started talking to her in a soothing voice. within 2 or 3 minutes she had calmed back down and fallen asleep. The whole thing only lasted 10 minutes and she slept soundly the rest of the night. She woke up happy as a lark the next morning. Poor baby. I can't imagine what is so terrifying that a 22 month old could be dreaming about.
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JODILYNNE7
3/21/06 12:43 A
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| I have an 8 yo daugter who still occasionally has nite terrors and has bedwetting issues. Something about not coming all the way out of deep sleep and abnormal sleep patterns. Good luck!
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XOXO_UN1_OXOX
3/20/06 5:02 P
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We have had the same problem with our oldest child. My husband is a sweet man as I got too frustrated too often when that would happen as I had never heard of it b4. My son used to wet his bed A LOT!! but in the last year or two since he was about 6 *He's 8 now* He would come running down the stairs and say weird things like *they were after him* or *their going to get him* or *Don't Touch me* and the list goes on. We often would get him to the washroom to urinate and then things would calm down. We thought it was because he was drinking b4 going to sleep so cut him back on his drinking and it hasn't happened recently. Hopefully he has grown out of it!
It is a Terrifying thing and wouldn't want any parent to go through that as you don't know what to do or what is happening!
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My son went through it in clusters about once a month for years starting at about age 3. He also walked (or ran) with his. Ripped everything out of the closet one night looking for a door I guess. Would bang on the window screaming (had to cover them). Never would wake up. Each episody built in intensity in a cluster then would gradually subside and not be repeated for another month or so.
He was scheduled for sleep testing. But first through lot of record keeping - finally connected it to a side effect of a common medication he was taking for frequent ear infections. (something like 1 in 20,000 kids).
He always woke with a smile and had no idea what I went through during the night. GOTTA LOVE HIM
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ANNABELLE7663
3/17/06 8:19 A
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| That is very interesting!!! Thanks so much. I'm going to make sure that Bella gets plenty of rest and plenty of fluids before bedtime. We've had two good nights so far so I'm hoping it was a one time fluke!!
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| My son had frequent night terrors until we mentioned it to my dh's brother. His son had the same thing until a doctor told him dehydration can cause it. He started to make sure his child had plenty of water to drink and the terrors went away. We did the same thing with our son and the terrors went away!
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My now 3 year old went through night terrors three or four times a month for several months when he was between 12 and 20 months. They're very tiring and frustrating. He, of course, was fine when all was said and done. Daddy and I were basket cases.
Touching him only made it worse, but he did seem to calm if I at least stayed near him and talked to him in a soothing voice.
Thank goodness he grew out of it by age 2.
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SEETHEREALME
3/16/06 3:07 P
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I think we tried that, but I will be honest in that I don't remember very well, she just turned 4 and with everything else that she has gone through and with a 2 year old, you kind of start to block some things out - lol.
I do remember that we tried to let her "work it out" but it is hard to let your baby go through that without trying to comfort them.
As you said, she always woke up happy and with no knowledge of what had gone on. My girlfriend's little boy just went through the same thing last fall and they tried everything and they either were able to stop them or he just grew out of it but they stopped.
I think that you will have to do what you think is best for your daughter, regardless of what anyone else tells you. It is hard on you because this is your child whom you want to protect more than life itself.
Maybe someone else will have had the same problem and will be able to offer up some better advice to help you and again, I hope that you won't need it and that it won't happen again!!
Good luck.
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ANNABELLE7663
3/16/06 2:54 P
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Thanks for your input, the doctor said not to bother her and leave her alone until it passes.
Did you ever do this? How long did they last each time? I'm wondering if Isabellas would have lasted 2 hours if we had just left her alone instead of trying settle her down.
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SEETHEREALME
3/16/06 2:50 P
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Our daughter went through the same thing just before she turned 2 - it was terrifying. It could be just an isolated event for you - let's hope. I am not trying to scare you - so please don't take it that way.
For us, it went on for months, and we did research, talked to doctors, did everything that we could to try to stop it, nothing worked, and she eventually grew out of them.
One of the things that we found that sometimes worked or at least brought down the intensity was to gently rouse her about 15 - 20 min before she usually had the night terror (if you are able to track them) or just around the time. You don't want her to fully wake up, just kind of mumble and rustle and turn over like she is agitated, this can sometimes help to break the sleep cycle enough. Worth a try.
I wish you luck and pray that you will not have to ever have to deal with this again and that it was a 1 time deal.
Your doctor may be able to offer you some better suggestions - this is just what we found worked for us and we are just parents, not medical people.
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ANNABELLE7663
3/16/06 12:02 P
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We just experienced our first encounter with Night Terrors.
Our nearly 2 yr old daughter woke up yesterday, or rather, didn't wake up, with a crazed look in her eyes (when they were open) and she didn't know who I was. She freaked out when we tried to hold her or calm her down. It was awful. I didn't know what was happeneing and I thougth the poor baby was sick. She cried and flailed around uncontrollably for 2 hours!! She got sick to her stomach, which scared me, in hind sight it was from being so worked up. She finally settled down fell back asleep. When she woke up for real, 3 hours later, she was totally fine. Happy as a clam and elated to see me, her Mommy. I asked the doctor about it and they said it was night terrors. I pray it doesn't happen again but it could. Anyone else deal with this?
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